George w



izliwwvfwi. CpoK L DUNCAN.

1 Harvester Cutter.

'muted' Manin, 187|.

ANo;112,689. L

NAPEI'ERS, FHOTOVLITRGRAPHER. WASHINGTON. D4 C.

l. which is shown the oldl 3 per partbeing in advauee thepurpose of leaving an open space,'so as to WED N l l` GEORGE W.COOK, QF ,G tNESFiO, AND FRANCIS M. DUNCAN, OF ALEDO, ILL.

lMRRovEMENr Nj CUTTING APPARATUS FOR HARVESTERS.

To all whom 'it may coi/ceram1 Be it known that we, GEORGE W. (looK, of Geneseo, yin" thecounty ofldenryand State of Illinois, and dlnANcrs 2M. DUNCAN, of Aledo,

t. `in the county of Mercer vand State aforesaid, haveinv'ented certain Improvements in Rotary Sickles for Mowers, Reapers, and Harvesters; and we do hereby declare the following to. be a full, clear,fandexact description thereof, sufl ritiene toename those sinned in uw, an: u,

which our invention appertains to fully under- `stand and to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming part of this speciiication, and in which- Figure l yrepresents a ,detached cutter, on ,nethbd of serrating and our improvement thereon. Fig. 2 is a `transversefsection of Fig. ,Figx is a plan f1.yx el. i i .l y view of a portion ofthe `nager-bars provided with our improvements. n l Similar letters "of reference indicate .like parts in the` several figures.

This invention consists, iirst, `in an improved manner of serrating the rotary cutters 5 seeondly,in the peculiar construction ofthe'guards which cover theknives, whereby they not only n guide thestalks `to the knivesfbutreceive the l y same after theyare cut; thirdly, in the combination, with the guards thus constructed, of slotted iin gers arranged in linewith the knives fourthly, inthe combination, with peculiarlyconstructed guards, of concave-convex cutters, arrangedfupon a horizontal shaft 5 and, nally,

in the general `construction of an improved cutting mechanism for mowers and reapers, all as'and for the purposehereinafter described and particularlyascertained;` l

Referring to the drawing, it will be seen that the fmgerrbar is composed .c .tywlo parts, g and It. Itmay be mader'in anyl oftlieknown forms; but it is inclined as shown ,in iFig. 2,l the up- "the bottom, for

prevent grass and weeds a d the like from i clogging the lmachine by wedging between the knives anld` linger-bar. '.lh's provision is an important featurewheref the knives revolve upward `from the front lof, themachine, asin our mechanism]` i,

The shaftmwhicn carrieslthe cutters or l i knives, is mounted in bea-rings attached to r" Specificationl ferming part of Letters Patent No. ll2,69, dated March 14, 1871.

diameter of the shaft, and are arran ged thereupon and separated by tubular metallic collars or washers p, which are held in place by keys r at the ends, or by means of set-screws at each end of the shaft.

The peculiarity in the serration ot the cutters will now be described.

In Fig. l is shown a cutter provided on one edge with a series of teeth, c, as heretofore ordinarily made, and on the opposite side, at b,

' serrated according to our invention. To make this feature clear, we have made dotted lines y y, with arrows to show the direction in which the chisel or iile is used in forming the teeth as ordinarily made heretofore, as distinguished from that in which it is employed in carrying y out our invention.

It should be borne in mind that the revolutions of the cutter are in the direction of the large arrows 3-that is, from the front of the machine toward the finger-bar, as rotary eutters of mowing-machines cannot be used effect, 'ively in the opposite direction.

rection to that just described, as shown by the arrows 2 2-that is, in the same direction with that in which the knife revolves. By this chiseling or filing we form perfect cuttingteeth, having sharp edges at t' @extending from the base to the point of the tooth; and as these edges are always in advance, (the cutter revolving in the direction of the arrows 3,) they come in contact with the stalks of grass, and instead of tearing and shattering the same, they sever them by a cutting action, while there is no possibility of clogging, the teeth notbeing in the least degree hook-shaped.

It will be noticed that the lines or angles of the teeth at b are the same as at c, but the contrary direction in chiseling; and the formation of a series of angular knife-edges, i, produce's a marked improvement in the results attained, as has been shown by repeated ex' irl l 'i i V, periieif i ithe ield, in' connection with the old yl u ers,in various kinds of grain and gra s iin di erentconditions.

e inake our knives concavo-convex, and in b th right and left hand machines we place the oncae side of the knife iacin g the grain as it inclines toward the knives. The object in making knives of this form will be hereinafter explained.

The guards d are made of castiron or other suitable material, and are so shaped and constructed that one side and edge, e, acts as a guide to gather and conduct the straws to the knives, and also to prevent the latter from cutting the stalks in more than one place, whileit e bottom and front edge ot' the other side gradually inclines around and drops below the shaft to receive the straws after they are cut off.

There is a flange on the front orlower edge of each guard, which rests in a slot made to receive it in the fingers m mf. These ngers are deeply grooved or slotted throughout their length togeceive the iange ot' the guard and the e lge otfthe cutter, and thus protect it from contact with the ground, an opening from the slot being made at a to prevent clog'gin The guards are riveted vto an iron bar, j', whiclnis secured to the finger-bar by bolts, that they may be readily removed.

The fingers m are secured in any suitable manner to the finger-bars.

The object in making each guard and iin ger in separate pieces is for convenience and economyin removing and replacing them if broken', and when it is necessary to sharpen the knives.

At the point c on the guard (in Fig. 2) there is a sudden sloping or inclination upward, which ,forms a wcdging-point between the knife and guard as the straw or grass reaches that peint, and is essential to the satisfactory oper tipngof the sickle.

The guards are made narrow at their inner portieri', near their points of attachment to the ringer-bar, leavin g openings, as shown at t" and It `in FigQ, the object of which is to prevent clogging.

We direct attention particularly to two points in relation to these guards and fingers. The irst is, that the ingers are exactly in line with the knives or cutters. The advantage of this is, ,that a great portion of the straw is allowed tol come in straight, while that which is inclined is only in one direction, and is bent or broken in but one place; whereas with the old forms of guards the stalks are all inclined, whereby the grain is crowded down to the earth and prevented from reaching the cutters and breken in two or. more places. In our machine the stalks, which are allowed to enter straigh without inclination, assist in depositing the remainder in the desired position on the platform. The second point consists in the open spaces which are left between the iingcrslandtthe overhanging portions ofthe guards, ,so that even. when the uncut grain is lying in the direction and at the angle indicated by the line c' z, Fig. 2, it will not be forced down or obstructed, but caught by the knives and cut.

Thel peculiar curve ot' the upper surface of the guard gives a gradual inclination from the surface of the ground to the top of the in gerbar, so that partially-down grain is taken up,

cut, carried above the shaft, and delivered upon the platform.

The concave-convex form of our cutters has been hereinbefore referred to. We will now proceed to describe the object in making them of this form, in connection with the peculiar-ity ot' our guides, which has been explained.

The principal object is, that on the concave side there will always be a serrated edge, which will invariably catch the straw, especially that which straight, as it reaches and passes the point e on the guiding-edge e of the guards, whereas were the knife plane or plano-convex the serrated edge would soon become so rounded that the straw would slip from the edge and be carried down under the machine without being cut. Besides, by this form we obtain a knife having suflicient inflexibility, although made oft-hin metal 5 and, in grinding, we readily obtain .a good edge by placing the knife with the concave. side down on a stone and turning it a few times, while if a plane knife were employed it would necessarily be presented to the stone atan angle, which must give the cutter a rounded edge, and thus prevent it from catching the grain which enters erect.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The curved guards d, havin ga gradual upward inclination from the iinger to the top of the .finger-bar, and constructed with the guiding-surface e and .vedging-point c, substantially as and for the purpose herein described.

2. In combination with the guards, constructed as specitled vin the preceding clause, the slotted fingers m, having the side opening, u, and arranged in line with the cutters a, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. A series of concave convex serrated knives, a, arranged upon a horizontal shaft, in combination with guides constructed substantially as herein described.

4. An improved cutting apparatus for mowers, reapers, and ha-ryesters, composed ot' a series ot' concave-convex cutters, serrated as herein described, and as shown at b in Fig. l, arran ged upon a horizontal shaft, a series ot' curved guards, d, with guidii'ig-surfaces e c and slotted fingers la, in line with the knives, all applied to a finger-bar, g It, and constructed and operating substantially as herein described.

GlORGE W. COOK. FRANCIS M. DUNCAN. Witnesses:

JACOB G. MAsrrN, Onivnn PrEnsoN. 

